Isn’t it amazing how quickly time flies? Life moves past us with lightning speed. One big event after another appears on our calendars. We watch them approach, and when they arrive we mark them off. Then we’re on to the next big thing.

Within our families, it’s stuff like weddings and birthdays and soccer tournaments. At church, it’s retreats, sermon series, small group studies, and, if you’re liturgical like my church, feast days and liturgical seasons measured in colors — we move from white to red to green.

It’s already been a week since we fasted and prayed for the millions of children and families affected by the global food crisis. I missed my chance to immediately write and thank you. I meant to — you were on my heart.

The day came and was powerful and passed. Almost instantly I was off to the next “important” thing.

Yet, the kids are still hungry. They still need our prayers and our actions. They are not on to the next thing. They are still dealing with and living this one big thing. Hunger.

Over 6,500 of you committed to pray and fast with us last week. And I do want to say thank you for that! Even though my thanks are a bit late, they are heartfelt nonetheless.

I hope your day of prayer and fasting was a day in which you encountered the Lord and His tender heart for those who are suffering. I hope it was a day when you felt a bit more deeply the Lord’s love for these children.

Let’s keep doing that — feeling His love for them. Sharing His compassion with them. Not just on one day. Let’s pray regularly for them. Perhaps when we sit down to dinner to say grace. When we lie down in bed at night. When we rise to another beautiful summer day. Let’s thank the Lord for His astounding provision to us and lift up those who so desperately need a touch of His hand.

A few of Compassion’s international partners are holding days of fasting and prayer just like we did on June 25.

If you enjoy the feeling of joining together with believers across the globe to fast and pray, then you might consider praying with:

Please continue to tell others about the global food crisis. Continue to help raise awareness. Let’s take our focus off gas prices in the U.S. and put the spotlight on the deep and growing needs the children have worldwide.

Don’t assume everyone around you already knows about this and is doing something to make a difference. Most people don’t know, and those who do know, don’t know how to help in a way that will make a tangible difference. Tell them what we’re doing.

In the month of July alone we’re sending $1.5 million to nine of our field countries to help feed children and provide emergency supplemental food for their families. We hope to do the same for the next several months, if the funds come in.

We are also working on a longer term plan that will help the children’s families and our church partners address this problem, into the future, in ways that are sustainable and developmental.

Let’s not let this moment pass in our everyday busyness. In the rush to move along to the next thing in our lives …let’s pause here. Let’s join together and make a difference.

This is important. Really important! Who is going to do it if you and I don’t?

Thank you, Regina, for providing more information to be passed along. I hope to do another post about it on my blog today; unless Chris tells me I can’t, I’m going to include the picture of the farmer.

I have to tell you I was little annoyed (not really) over the ‘timing’ of Compassion’s prayer and fasting event. You see, it took place on ‘day 2′ of the Creation Festival, and I was unable to partake of all the delectable goodies being peddled by the wonderful food vendors that attend the festival.

Seriously though, throughout the day, I wondered (in prayer to God), what significance my ‘going without’ might actually have on the current state of food availability, in particular to those who could not even afford to purchase it when it was affordable.

God didn’t respond audibly, but I did sense in my heart the Lord telling me to, “Be quiet and be obedient.”

“Yes Sir.”

When I got home and back to my routine, I was approached by a pastor-friend of mine who presented me with $225 in cash.

“We heard about the fasting and prayer on July 25 and we had a special offering for Compassion. Would you please send this (offering) in (to Compassion) for the global food crisis fund?”

Now I am not suggesting for one moment that this deed was in response to anything I did (or didn’t do), but nonetheless I think it’s very cool how God worked it all out for His honor and glory and praise.

God bless you Regina — we miss you!

dave

PS. I visited ‘all’ the vendors on Friday and made up for what I missed out on, on Thursday. God has healed me of so many things, I suspect gluttony is next on the list.

Thanks for the reminder Regina. We will keep praying. And fasting. I rarely get hungry on days that I fast, but then I normally would fast only one or two meals. This time I challenged myself to go the whole day (and I did). I thought all day about parents who are not eating because they’re giving their own food to their children. Or worse yet — parents who have nothing to give their kids. Imagine the feelings of hopelessness! I really felt sad the morning after the fast, when I had the choice to eat breakfast again (and I did). How many are going without food for more than a day? Too many to count.

But I also remembered a letter that was sent to a sponsor in a nearby town. In her first letter, the child said, “I’m so excited to have a sponsor! Now I won’t have to eat any more meals at home again! And there will be more food for my brothers and sisters. Thank you for sponsoring me!”